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- Nov 12-15: AFI Silver Classic Film Weekend
- From the archives (February 29, 2008): Patrick Stewart as Macbeth
- Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- From the archives (October 27, 2004): The pros and cons of “Smotheration”
- From the archives (September 12, 2006): Under the Ghostbuster Sky
- From the archives (October 18, 2002): the first post on my blog
- Today, the Sheila Variations turns 24
- Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- From the archives (October 12, 2011): Wisconsin Idyll in Funny Hats with Rocket Launchers
- From the archives (January 12, 2004): I Was Told I Would Get Wings
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- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- sheila on From the archives (February 29, 2008): Patrick Stewart as Macbeth
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- Gale Justin on An Acting Lesson: John Wayne and the “Reality of the Doing”
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
- sheila on From the archives (February 29, 2008): Patrick Stewart as Macbeth
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Tag Archives: romantic comedy
Off Campus, episode 5: You actually can choose your family
Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 film Magnolia, one of the most eccentric mainstream American movies ever made, culminates in a sequence where thousands of frogs rain down on the empty streets of Los Angeles. Up until this moment, each character – … Continue reading
Posted in Television
Tagged Ingmar Bergman, Melancholia, Off Campus, Opening Night, Out of the Blue, Repulsion, romantic comedy, romantic drama, Supernatural, Vertigo, women directors
37 Comments
Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
If random people find these recaps they might get frustrated with how I do things. They clearly missed the 10,000-word Supernatural re-caps. I like to write about things that inspire OTHER things, like aesthetics, film acting, dramaturgy. I was inspired … Continue reading
Posted in Television
Tagged Off Campus, romantic comedy, romantic drama, women directors
99 Comments
Off Campus, episode 3: Two truths. Hence, ergo, therefore.
Episode 3’s title is attention-getting and I am here for it. Episode 4 could be called “The Orgasm, Part 2.” The two episodes are laid out like a thesis paper: episode 3 presents the thesis, episode 4 breaks it down … Continue reading
Posted in Television
Tagged Off Campus, romantic comedy, romantic drama, women directors
42 Comments
Off Campus, episode 2: Commence the one-sided yearning
“You gotta admit. It’s kind of genius.” Garrett says this to Hannah at the end of the first scene in episode 2, after he lays out his ideas for the fake-dating plan. The plan is not really genius, Garrett, but … Continue reading
Posted in Television
Tagged Off Campus, romantic comedy, romantic drama, women directors
34 Comments
Off Campus, episode 1: Unexpectedly Unexpected
On the surface, at least in episode 1 of Off Campus, an 8-episode Amazon Prime series , based on Elle Kennedy’s 2015 book The Deal, you can predict everything that will happen. College hockey player needs to ace an exam, … Continue reading
Posted in Television
Tagged Off Campus, romantic comedy, romantic drama, women directors
99 Comments
2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: The Taming of the Shrew
My progress: Shakespeare Reading Project Henry VI, parts 1, 2, 3 and Richard III Two Gentlemen of Verona The Taming of the Shrew A popular one, but a tough one! There are elements in Petruchio and Katherina’s dynamic which we … Continue reading
Posted in Theatre
Tagged Harold Bloom, romantic comedy, W.H. Auden, William Hazlitt, William Shakespeare
8 Comments
August-November 2025 Viewing Diary
I haven’t watched much this year, beyond what I was assigned to review. Of course at end of year I have to scramble to catch up, which I am still doing. Instead I watched a lot of true crime, re-watched … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged baseball, Brazil, crime movies, documentary, drama, England, France, Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro, historical drama, horror, Iran, Iranian film, Italy, Jafar Panahi, Jennifer Lawrence, literary adaptation, Martin Scorsese, Nick Nolte, Patricia Arquette, Roman Polanski, romantic comedy, Russia, Sissy Spacek, true crime, Ukraine, women directors, X-Files
12 Comments
February 2025 Viewing Diary
Twin Peaks: The Return (2017; d. David Lynch) There’s nothing else like it in all of God’s green earth and I am just so grateful it exists. It’s so pure. Suze (2025; d. Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart) I liked … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Angela Lansbury, Canada, Cary Grant, Charles Beeson, David Lynch, drama, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire, George Stevens, Germany, Ginger Rogers, historical drama, Howard Hawks, Jared Padalecki, Jean Arthur, Jensen Ackles, Judy Garland, musicals, Only Angels Have Wings, Oscar Wilde, Phil Sgriccia, Rita Hayworth, Robert Singer, romantic comedy, Sissy Spacek, sports movies, Supernatural, Thomas J. Wright, Thomas Mitchell, Twin Peaks, Vincente Minnelli, women directors
118 Comments
October 2024 Viewing Diary
Downfall (2005; d. Oliver Hirschbiegel) I’ve watched a couple of times. Always good to have a reminder of the madness of those final months, where even the most hardened monstrous men were like, “… uhm, yeah, he’s a lunatic, I’m … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged animation, Australia, biopic, documentary, drama, England, France, Germany, Ginger Rogers, historical drama, Iranian film, Japan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Natalie Portman, Palestine, Poland, Pre-Code, Robert De Niro, romantic comedy, war movies, women directors
31 Comments
September 2024 Viewing Diary
My First Film (2024; d. Zia Anger) In my Top 10 of the year (so far). I reviewed for Ebert. Sweetheart Deal (2024; d. Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller) A very upsetting and beautifully made documentary, representing a decade of … Continue reading

